Large increase in casualties in Russia-Ukraine conflict, UN says | News of the Russian-Ukrainian war

Increasing use of long-range missiles and drones against targets far from the front line is increasing civilian casualties.

Civilian casualties in the war between Russia and Ukraine are increasing, mainly due to long-range missiles and drones “hitting densely populated urban areas far from the front line”, the United Nations says.

Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the group recorded 1,396 civilians killed and 7,978 in Ukraine in the first six months of 2026.

This was an increase of 37 percent from the same period last year and “almost double what we recorded in 2024”, he said.

Referring to credible Russian reports, Bell said 250 civilians have been killed and 1,596 injured in attacks inside Russia in the first six months of this year.

“This represents a 121 percent increase in civilian casualties in the Russian Federation compared to last year,” he said.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have increased airstrikes in recent months, following each other’s demands, while US-led talks to end Russian aggression are still ongoing, and US interest has shifted dramatically. to his war against Iran.

Russia has used missiles frequently against Kyiv near Patriot interceptor weaponswhich is very important to protect. In retaliation, Ukraine is increasing its attacks on Russia, particularly targeting oil reserves. Several attacks on Ukraine killed at least eight workers at Wildberries on Saturday and injured many others, when another attack started a fire at an oil depot outside Moscow.

A second driver of the threat to civilian casualties was the proliferation of small drones and landmines in frontline areas, particularly the effects of first-person view (FPV) drones, where the drone operator can see the target in real time, Bell said.

“In the first six months of this year, civilian casualties from short-range drones increased by 65 percent,” he said, adding that “these drones are changing the lives of civilians in the frontline”.

During a recent visit to Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Kharkiv and Dnipro, Bell said people told his team that they were “followed by FPV drones while doing their daily activities: farming, walking their dogs, feeding their pets outside, going to the store, driving a car or just walking or cycling outside”.

Ship attacks anger India

Among the most recent attacks in terms of civilian casualties was Russia’s attack on the Golden Leo, a Guinea-Bissau ship carrying a cargo of maize and manned by crews from India and Syria. It was hit by three cruise missiles on Sunday as it left the Black Sea port of Odesa, killing 10 crew members, including four Indians.

The governor of the region, Oleh Kiper, told Ukrainian TV on Monday Russian attack on Odesa they have killed 28 people in the month of July alone.

India said on Tuesday it had summoned a Russian official in New Delhi, Vladimir Ladanov, and told him to tell Moscow that attacks on merchant ships and the killing of civilians were unacceptable.

“Such attacks threaten the safety, security, and stability of global maritime trade,” India’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow had contacted the Indian government after the incident.

“We are expressing our opinion,” he said. “The most important thing is that our forces are fighting – and will continue to fight – ships carrying weapons, weapons, etc. because of Kyiv’s control.”